I have a 1973 Ford F250 that I bought about a year ago and made it my project (only 18). When I bought it that truck had been sitting for years in a field, since I've rebuilt the carburetor, did work on the transmission, and worked on the timing, replaced the fuel lines and pump. Its been a great experience for me and I personally love going out and working on the timing and carburetor to make it run seemingly perfect. Next project is motor mounts.
braverfreebird This makes you an official car guy! Now, make sure to pass all of this knowledge down to your kids, when you become a father......they will love you for it, and it'll make you a proud dad!
I love old cars. I remember my Dad and I driving a 1963 Plymouth Valiant from Seattle to Phoenix with no problems. This was in the 1980s and the car had over 100,000 miles on it. In my opinion if you kept an old car up they were pretty reliable. My Dad had a 1950 ford that he drove 167,000 miles with the original engine not rebuilt. When he sold it the front end was kind of worn out but it still ran well. I was young at the time but I never remember it breaking down. Of course my Dad maintained it well. To me old cars have a personality that new cars dont have. Also without the electronic nannies you actually had to know how to drive.
Speaking of generational, I had a '74 Malibu, 250 6 cyl. I stopped into Pepboys in Batavia, OH, I asked the young man (he was about 18) for a set of points. His eyes got wide, cocked his head like a dog that heard a noise for the first time, and said,"What's points?" I laughed until I realized that must have been my 2 sign that I'm getting old. :(
Sometimes I get nostalgic for old vehicles, and then I remember how often they broke down. There was a reasonably busy mechanic every mile, to adjust points, tune carburetors, and deal with no start issues. Even the gas wasn't as clean. Most of us learned about cars because we had to....
+Nicks Customs Nice project man. I myself have a 66 Galaxie project and love driving it and working on it. So much more simple than cars even from the 80s or 90s.
I really liked to listen to you about this topic in this and your previous "Driving Old Cars" video. I can really relate this to myself as I'm always been in old cars, more specific old VW. Last year, when I was 17 now 19, I got myself a 1983 VW Passat wagon, beaten, without any paper workand not working, spent whole summer working on it, getting it running and registered. I have put a lot of work in, but it still have big problems to be fixed, but it runs. I often get a critic about my car, because it's old and beaten, but I still love it, because it's old and with it's own soul and temperament. Driving a old car or being into old cars is basically a life style. Thanks for your work, keep it up!
I'm only 31 years old, and I had a moment the other week looking at cars, seeing a 91 and thinking it isnt that old, then I remembered that 1991 was 25 years ago
When I was an auto tech yet I used the blue point brake line bender and I loved doing brake lines. Did all of the brake and fuel lines on a chevy pickup restoration, took me 2 days but when I stood back at the end and looked at it I was really proud of how it looked and the customer couldn't believe how it turned out. On topic, I'm only 23 now but now working as a diesel tech for an oil rig company and everyone just comes down hard on me for driving a 92 Toyota Hilux, such an OLD vehicle. I love the thing and I've turned every bolt front to back. I just can't drop the cash on something brand new because it's "the thing to do out here" the old vehicles look better, and are better to drive. There's something about having to know just the right way to start it, or how to compensate for the less than perfect handling. I feel when you have to give someone a tutorial on how to drive your car, you know you are doing it right.
My first car was a 66 mustang 289! It was back in 89. We had a love hate relationship. I spent a lot of weekends crawling around that car. It not only taught me how to turn wrenches it also kept me out of anymore trouble than I was already in. Those were the days!
i love old cars, the feels, smells, and sounds will never be surpassed. i have the only old chevy and carbed vehicle in the family, ironically it was my first car/truck. its an 86 chevy c10, and i love it, well i love all makes, etc, but honestly, as it goes, nothing beats a classic.
GREAT TOPIC!!! we had a old chevy half ton on our farm that was absolutely destroyed.I loved everything about it.The sounds,the smells the feel while driving it.I think thats why people get the inclination to restore old cars.THEY HAVE SOULS.
I'm 16 and my car is a 97 F-150 and people talk about it being old, I have a friend that talks about his 05 sport trac being old, I never appreciated how new my 97 is until I started restoring my 67 F-100, a truck that didn't even have power steering as an option and I just love them both. My 97 is turning 20 this year (it was made in 96) and it to an extent has the same spirit that my 67 has. But my 97 seems brand new when I take the 67 for a drive, having to use the 3 speed manual column shifter, rolling the windows down myself, having to use the choke to coax it to life, using two hands to park, and all that other jazz. But I just love taking that old truck out and listening to the sound of that fe352 I rebuilt and feeling the pride that I take in both my trucks from restoring my 67 to maintaining my 97.
ENJOY YOUR VIDEOS,I"M 57 YEARS OLD,1ST CAR,63 IMPALA-283,3SPD MANUAL,RAN GREAT,HANDLED TERRIBLE(WHO KNEW!),COULD ALWAYS MAKE IT RUN,WORKED ON IT CONSTANTLY,LEARNED ALOT,DRUM BRAKES,SINGLE MASTER CYLINDER,SCARY!IT"S EASY TO ROMANCE THAT STUFF,I"M PROBABLY NOT BRAVE ENOUGH TO DRIVE THAT CAR TODAY.THANKS AGAIN FOR WHAT YOU DO
I did saftey to my 88 grand marquis, which is a huge story in itself but in basic I upgraded to all wheel disc brakes, upgraded to a nice 351w headers carburetored (4bbl manual choke) duel exhaust C4 trans. and I'm 33yo so I took this oldie backward and forward!
68 Chevy stepside owner here. Just replaced my old 350 with an L96 2012 Silverado engine though, so not sure it still completely counts as an oldie. Still has the original suspension for now, but that may change before too long. Thanks for putting these videos up. I have enjoyed them so far, and plan on watching more as time permits. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Eric! I hope you put out a lot of videos on this car. I bought a 78 camaro with a 305 which is a project car that I used in automotive school. It's been a great learning experience and I love it, although there is the constant terror of maybe the car not taking you to your destination. Either way, I hope you put out videos on carburetor maintenance and tune ups... the lost art form. I'm learning it as I go along and I feel there aren't very good videos that explain how it works and how to tune it
Also I was an old Rotary engine freak. Never rebuilt one but have done R&Rs. Learned the weird timing and all. Owned an 74 Rx4 and Rx3 and 84' Rx7 GSL-SE. Miss those old cars.
Exactly the reason why I have (don't worry I drive cars too) a motorcycle from 1978, with an engine design from the 1950s. Real easy to work on, everything is much more 'down to earth'. Heck, even the electrics are only 6 wires or so. But I love it, you don't need fancy tools and everything is serviceable. The only thing that I don't trust is the battery of it, which has been replaced a few months ago. Old stuff is great to learn from.
I am about your age, Eric, and my first car was also of 1972 vintage. Mine was a 2lt Ford Cortina Mk3 GXL. I loved driving that old car, and loved working on her. So much room spare room in the engine bay made it easy to get at everything. I could swap the gearbox out in just a couple of hours. Would take me a couple of days on my present car. Though there is one thing i do not miss about the older cars, going out to her on a cold winters morning wondering if she was going to be kind to me and actually start! I remember with my old Cortina you would get just one shot at it on mornings like that, mess it up with too much choke or too much pedal pressing, then the chances were the battery would give out before she started. A problem i have not had for years with more modern cars (touch wood).
wisdom is important with older cars. i bought a 56 dodge and started driving it to oregon from nor cal, and it started running really bad, and it was getting dark, so knowing a few things know what the possable problem could be. Turns out the points were wearing out and causing the timing to be off. i took sand paper, and smoothed them over, and set them with a matchbook cover and it worked perfectly and i finnished the drive. one thing ve not heard you mention is the feeling of accomplishment working on cars and getting them to work.
My daily driver is an 87 Caprice 4bbl 305. It has 300,00+ miles. Cosmetically it's terrible but mechanically it's sound. I have had newer cars but this car would have to burn down before I got rid of it. As a professional mechanic, so many of the failures I see on modern cars makes me even less inclined to have a modern car.
My favourite car I've ever owned was my 1975 Triumph Spitfire... Had it five years and loved every moment. Had a 1984 Ford Capri for many years as well... At the moment I've 1999 Suzuki (Santana) Vitara, 1988 VW T25 auto running LPG and poverty spec MK 3 Golf Convertible. The Vitara is new, but apart from the injection system and ignition system, it is old technology. No central locking, no electric windows, no airbags, ABS, etc ... After going through most of the systems, cambelt, fluids etc... It is running so much better. I drove it 600 miles over 2 days which for the UK is a long distance. It was slow, but so much fun to drive that I did not get bored. I bought it on impulse a few months ago and it is a project vehicle, so the work is part of the bonding process. Yes, I do carry fluids and a socket set. It might be a little excessive but experience has taught me to carry tools. Sadly those are the last of the fairly simple cars, the next generation are disposable white goods. When they get to banger status their complexity will mean that instead of being fixed they will get scraped as it is more cost effective to simply buy another cheap car. Eric, keep up the Videos, really great to watch and learn from. Thank you.
Of course, my pleasure Sammy. If you are interested, I'm launching a new blog soon called Classicaraddict www.classicaraddict.com/ . It is pass word protected as I've still some details to sort out...
Eric I have always driven older vehicles... My first car was a 63 Olds Dynamic 88 and to this day the neeist car I own is a 82 Dodge Van. My son recently turned 30 and he purchased a 62 Chevrolet Biscayne ... He is loving it (even though I despise that he BAGGED it) for him to be following in my footsteps and that of my fathers (whose daily driver is a 65 Ford Falcon Van) is wonderful. My other son is into tuner cars and he helps us keep my wifes 94 Honda Civic running perfect. Great Kid but you can't have everything...(his daily is a early 80's suped up Honda) Many Blessings , SMR
lol. you mentioned seat belts- they were a $12.00 option on my dads 62 galaxie. instead of getting them, he chose a padded dash- think it was about the same price.
My mom still has our 1976 Chevy Silverado 4x4 longbox regular cab 350 Fleetside. it's 38 this year. Still wakes up and runs but not highway safe but it still lives when she needs it.
My first car I bought was a '51 Willys CJ3A Jeep. Open the hood, 1 wire to the coil, 1 vacuum line to the windshield wiper; real simple. You could climb into the hood there was so much room ;). The classic cars were built like tanks. The classic styling makes them really stand out. Through the '70s cars were easy to work on. The '80s, cars got messy. I bet you remember some of the last carbureted Hondas. They had so may vacuum lines, solenoids and junk for emissions and mileage you could not even see the carb under the mess. I hated cars at that time, it was hard to fix and once you touched them, hoses popped off or plastic parts cracked. Machine assembled parts meant things are no longer rebuildable. With FI, things got simpler and the ECU started telling you what was wrong. They are much simpler mechanically and more reliable. Newer cars all seem to have the 1/4" rule: If there was 1/4 more inch of clearance around a part, you could get to it without removing 5 other things. Things have gotten difficult; who wants to pull an intake manifold to change plugs.
My daily driver is a '94 Lexus ES300. I bought it thru Copart for $700 knowing it would need some work. It needed a flexible crossover pipe and crank seal. It serves me like a new one.
I am 17, And I think that around 91 is what I refer to as old cars. I drive an old car, a 86 Toyota pickup that started off as a $400 pile on craigslist. It has a 22r with a Carb, and a 5 speed manual transmission.
I also find you build a relationship with a car when it is more mechanical. You feel a sense of pride that you never have when you just take it to the dealer.
Totally agree with your viewpoints on old cars. No fancy diagnostic tools needed there, everything was pretty easy to figure out. And driving them is an experience unto itself as well. As an aside, my dad had an '80 Mercury Zephyr (the Fairmont's brother)...same 200 straight six. Before he bought it, someone had drove it with a plugged catalytic converter, which fried the rings on one of the cylinders. It actually ran ok, but that one plug would oil up pretty bad....then it would suddenly ignite and *BAM!*, big backfire out the exhaust. I took a girl on a date in that car...the first time it backfired she turned to me and said "What was that?". I just said "Oh, nothing....."
i miss those days, my first car was a 71 charger with a 383. i still think in cubs and have a hard time wrapping my head around litters. the fastest car i owned was 71 4 door dart with with a 440, duel 4 barrel carbs, a high riser cross ram intake and so much more. that thing was a great sleeper, no one seemed to suspect it. but man o man they where hart breakers. now i work on my bike to scratch that itch.
Hi eric I love a lot watching you. I know what do you refer when says a honda 1992 is not an old car, is something generational as you said. I'm a person who feel in the same way you feel about modern cars have been broke the link of romance about driving. I have now a 1993 toyota corolla wagon. Thats an old car for our generation(im 30years old) but the big difference for me is that the country from were i came, in this case Cuba, i start learning how car works on a Jeep Willy 1948 with the famous Go-Devil engine straitgh 4 flat head, later i take care of one russian car(lada 1972, is a cheap copy from a Fiat of the 70s) with carburator and everything very basic. Now im here in US and i took it this "old car" from the 90s to learn about injectors and sensors. Hopefully this car is very basic. As you mention before you can feel everything from the speed shift to the aceleration. Please keep posting videos. You are doing a great work teaching us "modern teens" how to deal with "older Cars" Thanks Crisss
Despite my 2006 Mercedes Benz C280 being 8 years old I feel it's a newer car. I would consider cars from the 80s, 90s and 2000s to be "older" but definitely not old. Cars before the 80s are starting to show their age and I would consider them old but if they run well and were well maintained I wouldn't mind driving one.
I think determining what's old isn't just generational; it's also a mindset. In 2012 I had a conversation with someone my age (19 at the time) about my car, which was a '99. She said "that's so old!" and I told her I didn't consider 13 years to be old. I asked her what she thought constituted an old car and she thought for a minute... and said "2008." I didn't even know what to say. To me a 6 year old car might as well be brand new! I would consider "old" to be '80s and below.
The good ole days when breaker points or a ballast resister would leave you stranded. The voltage regulator was a big square thing that never seemed to work right, and some were adjustable. In today's era, what is a carburetor? A guy's car would only start while cranking. He replaced the ballast, dist, carb and was desperate for help. We found a loose wire on the coil. The guy was 'as happy as a puppy dog with two peters' LOL
That is an excellent point, Eric. I suppose someone who is in their early 20s today would see that '92 Civic as being an old car. (I grew up in the '70s and early '80s, like you, and thus I don't see anything newer than about 1985 or so as being old...) I think the term "old school" fits better than just plain "old" for cars like what you're talking about -- carburetor, points, recirculating-ball power-steering, 4-wheel drum brakes, bias-ply tires, etc. Stuff that could be fixed with a few hand-tools and a couple of hours of fiddling -- rather than needing electronic scanners to report trouble-codes that you then have to look up and use to help diagnose the problem. Anything that doesn't have the electronics necessary to produce trouble-codes when things go wrong is definitely old school.
I love older cars. I drove 1971 Rover 2000 twin carb a while back and it was an utter blast. No pas (didn't need it as the skinny tyres made it light enough. By comparison to the Fairmont, it was a 2 litre (122ci) made about 90bhp
The oldest I have owned was a 66 Mustang, some other oldies included a 71 Olds cutlass, 71 Ford F100, 77 Ford Granada, 79 Dodge Powerwagon. I also had a 1980 Ford Fairmont.
My first car was a 1977 chevy nova in 2003. It was highly temperamental. I needed to modulate the throttle just right for it to not stall out when taking off.
They don't make em like they used to is also a bad thing. You were talking about cars going out the door that were more hand made and therefore were slightly inconsistent. I love that. That's what gives a car a personality. That's why old Hot Rods and Muscle cars and things of that nature are said to be alive and have a soul. I think that men refer to their cars as "she" and give them girls' names because old cars are exactly like a woman. When you're starting up that Fairmont, you have to hold your tongue just right while the choke is doing it's job, or the thing won't start. Old cars are like that. Just like a woman. With a woman, you gotta press the right button while holding your tongue a certain way (get your head outta the gutter!) or you can't start her engine! "They don't make cars like they used to" is a bad thing in more ways than good. Cars today have no soul, no personality, no heart, and no power. I'm all for the safety stuff, but do you really need your car to have it's own 4GLTE? For Christ's sake, GM is asking people what Apps do you want in your car? A car today is just a big technological monstrosity that people climb into and barf around. We don't drive our cars anymore, our cars drive us. People have lost the art of driving. How many people can take a tight turn on a daily drive, and break the rear-end loose? How many people know the proper way to power shift? Shit, look at the sheer numbers of people who are too mentally challenged to drive a stick! I weep for today's cars. I wish I was old enough to have lived in the days of Carburetors. I wish that I was around when you could go down to the Chevy dealer, spend less than $5,000 and take home a 70 Chevelle SS454 LS6 450HP backed by the Muncie "Rock Crusher" and the Moser 12 bolt with 33 spline axles and 4.11:1 True Posi! That's the undisputed KING of the muscle cars! What do you get in a brand new car today? A 1.8L or less 4 banger with a hair-dryer on it and a 5 or 6 speed automatic FWD that has ten times more computers onboard than the first Space Shuttle. And what kinda car is it? Sure, you get a gazillion MPG, but even with a Turbo, that little shit-can won't even get out of it's own way. Fuck that. Give me a Sloburetor. Hell, give me dual quads on a high rise dual plane intake. Give me a violent Cam grind and 11.5:1 Compression. If I can't have a basic factory Points Ignition, then I want an MSD system which is better anyways. There is more to life, than fuel economy. There is no replacement, for displacement.
the cool thing about older cars is that you can fix them on the side of the road most of the time. if my parents 2013 van broke down on the side of the road i wouldn't want to touch it for fear i would void the warranty even if i new what the problem was.
I drive a 1995 Mercury Sable, which just a little younger than I am. It doesn't feel like an old car to me since it has fuel injection, power steering and two airbags and an ECU. I get what he's saying, cause older cars, you can really get attached to. The Sable has never had a problem, never failed to start ... and I guess that also means that I'm not that attached to it either. Sure, it shows it's signs of age, fading headlights and noisy power steering, as well as suspension that is reminiscent of an old Cadillac, but nothing that could make you become attached as you learn to cope and deal with it.
I drive a campervan based on a 1998 Ford Transit. 2.5 litre direct injection diesel engine. Mechanical diesel pump. One of the last to have a purely mechanical injection system. No power steering, and at about 2,100 kilograms (uh ... 4,630 lbs) it's hard to park, and being high-sided it's a pig when it's windy. But it's still great fun :D ... and in theory I could fix it all! The only sophisticated electronics in it (apart from the DAB stereo) is the PATS immobiliser system. The previous car was a 2 litre Mercedes automatic. So it's a bit different :D PS No power steering on something that heavy gives you impressively strong arms after a year of driving it!
I thought my old 94 Chevy 1500 was carburated, until I looked closer and thought it looked a little odd to be a carburator. I know now that it's throttle body injection. I'm not sure if this is unique to trucks at that time, or if it was just a crude form of the fuel injection we have today. Either way, this truck is old to me, and a blast to drive, and just different than my 2012 civic and 2010 Elantra. I have learned a lot from your videos, and really enjoy them.
+mygreenzebra Yea, that was the stop gap before things went multiport. It worked pretty well. If you want to try something fun. Hook a timing light up and watch the spray pattern while the engine is running. It's pretty cool. Thanks for your comments.
i have an all original 1973 ford ranchero gt. the guy who owned it before me bought it new in 73 and drove it every summer until he died a few years ago. his daughter sold it to me and she did not clean it. i got to find all the cool little stuff he left behind and what he had in the car just in case. i plan to do a lot of work to get it looking good. i just got it on the road, im only 18. i got it running great and i love driving it
Perhaps I'll have to count myself as an odd duck in your 'generational' idea :) Old in my perspective is anything older than '85, yet that's 12 years older than myself :) Also, you mentioned a video about rebuilding carburetors, I'll put it simply, I would love that! I have a 65 Cadillac that I'm working on and 'learning on' and I know enough to know the carburetor is not working properly.
My first car was built in 97, and I drove it until it wore out in 2011 (transmission problem, donated the car to someone who repaired it.) To me a car is old if the radio will accept a cassette tape. Part of that is because I am part of a generation that grew up during a technological boom though.
I drive an 87 Monte Carlo. I've changed about everything on it. Changed the engine twice. Tranny once. I switched it from a TH 200-4R to a TH 350 and had to buy a crossmember from an older G-Body, then had to have my driveshaft shortened 3 inches. I did all the body work and painted it myself. The newest engine I installed was a 1995 5.7 4 bolt main out of a Suburban 2500 4x4. It was rebuilt by me in my garage after machine work. Watched a youtube video on head porting and gasket matching then ported, polished, and port matched my heads with a die grinder and shaved them with a glass table and sandpaper. I had to cc the ports a hundred times it seems like to get it right. (i'll be using a machine shop for that from now on lol) Also put in new springs locks retainers and valve seals and lapped the valves. I installed new gaskets and seals throughout the engine, new .30-over kb flat-top pistons and moly rings and king bearings, installed cam bearings myself, plastigaged the bottom end, filed my own rings, put in a summit 1103 (street) cam, anti pump-up lifters, and a used intake. Small block chevys are pretty easy to do extensive repairs to compared to newer cars. I learned how to do all that from youtube. It took me about 2 weeks, but I'd never did anything that extensive before and had no help. It has a Holley 4 barrel with manual choke and a one-wire HEI distributor, so there's like 4 wires that run the whole engine. The carburetor was left full of metal shavings from the factory so I got a good deal on it, it was almost new and the guy didn't know what in the world was happening. He would set the floats perfect one day then get in his truck the next morning and it would be shooting gas out the vents. This guy can do complex EFI engine swaps and tune them, but I'm about the only one left out of our bunch who knew where to look with the fuel overflow problem on the Holley. Needle valves. Us guys that mess around with these old cars are a dying breed Eric. I've been driving the Monte over two years on this rebuild, and I'm in no way easy on this car. It's my work car and I beat the shit out of it. I live to blow the doors off of nicer, newer cars lol! She always starts (with no choke) no matter if it's 10 below outside. Of course, the body has to be rotting plumb off of it lol.
slim sammy aye man don't know if your still active or not but I'm trying to see if a Monte Carlo around those years is a reliable everyday car because I will be driving one soon when I figure out what to and how to fix it and I just want to know can it be a everyday car and. for it to be an everyday car what can I do or add for it to be one
Them old Montes can be just as good as any other car out there for an every day driver. I actually traded that car off for a 2004 CRF450R dirt bike last june. Some things with old cars you have to remember, their brakes lock up easy when the roads are wet. When you drive them in the winter time, warming the car up isn't a simple turn-the-key-and-run-back-in-the-house affair, you will have to sit there and hold the gas to keep it running forever before it idles on it's own (unless the choke's functioning properly). A rear-wheel drive car also doesn't do worth a shit in the snow, no matter what it'll never go as good as a front-wheel drive. Also, especially with a carb'ed V8, it's going to drink the gas compared to a newer, fuel injected car. Having the correct size carb, and having it jetted correctly for your particular engine will help a lot here. You also want to note the rear axle ratio. A lot of those Montes came with 2.73 and 3.08 rear gears stock. They're good for fuel mileage but not so much for acceleration. The Monte SS's usually had 3.73 posi's stock, but not all of them. If you have an overdrive transmission, you can still get decent gas mileage with the 3.73 gears, but my car got great gas mileage despite having ported heads and street cam with non-overdrive transmission because it had the 2.73 gears in the rear end. I know that's a lot, but there's one other huge concern with these cars. Rust. You have to check these cars out real good because the worst rust you've ever seen on a car could be hiding up under the ass end of a GM G-body. The rearmost part of the frame and the trunk floor and rear body mounts is where you need to really inspect that car. Chunks of the car falling off and hitting the road with every big bump you hit isn't exactly what anyone would call reliable, lol. So, I could've just said in the beginning you kinda need to be a mechanic to drive one of those oldies lol.
slim sammy thanks man I just needed to know because I own one now and I'm 15 I have help from family but I needed to know what it needed ASAP thanks I know it needs a lot of work but this has been my dream car since I was a kid it's a 85 Monte Carlo ss T-top but I'm willing to put in the work and the money thanks
When you get the car to where it needs to be you will be proud as hell of yourself, man. You can brag to your buddies how you built your own shit when mom and dad probably just went out and bought theirs! When you get that big car going out the road fast as hell and start hitting the turns...well, it's just beautiful. LOL
slim sammy thanks I hope you don't mind but I will be commenting on here time to time to see what I can do to improve it since your someone who has repaired a Monte Carlo for it to run
Old cars are much better built than newer cars. I'm restoring a 1967 chrysler newport coupe and love to drive it. Newer cars for me it's transportation and have less or no fun driving then. Keep up the great work and keep the vids coming. Greetings from the Netherlands.
Hi Eric! I have a 74 Challenger I've been rebuilding for years. It's got a 360 engine and a 727 trans. I was a real rust bucket. It literally had rat and mice nests in the headliner. So all that had to go. The floor pan is gone. Engine is getting rebuilt probably this summer along with trans. I'm stuck on one thing brakes. I don't know how to bleed the entire brake system as I replaced the entire brake system. I don't want to roll down the drive way and into the neighbors yard...lol. To bad I don't have you in Pittsburgh! That would be awesome! Take care and thanks for the videos!
Honestly bleeding the whole system isn't that difficult, a lot of it can be done with gravity. Just make sure you have a lot of brake fluid; if the pedals hard you won't be in anyone's yard ;)
i love older vehicles my current vehicle is a 93 ford explorer ive been fixing up converting everything i can to manual on her deleted ac looking for manual window assemblys. but i love older vehicles. beautiful car btw
I'm 19, born in 1997. An old car to me is pre-90s, but I totally understand what you're saying about the generational aspect of cars. My first car, which my parents bought me, was a 2002 Grand Am. I absolutely hated it. I bought myself a 1987 Ford F150, which is now sold, and a 1986 Mustang GT hatchback. Hoping to add something a bit newer and more reliable considering how often Mustangs break lol
I decided on an 01 Honda Civic as a daily, so hopefully it won't be too hard or expensive to fix. There's tons of parts out there for it. And I can have some fun in the Mustang and if it breaks I'll still have a driver!
Here in my country just a few people can afford a new car or even a car that is 5 years old. Most of the people are driving old 1979-1995 cars. I have a 1987 Nissan Sentra B12 with E16 engine carburated and love it!
I have had a few cars, and being one of the few in my circle working as a professional mechanic i work on my cars that range from 85-01 and others. But i prefer the older cars, especially diesels because of their simplicity.
All I know is I've had to learn how to work on my car myself (well, I'm learning) because every time it rolls into a shop the guys end up scratching their heads over some part or other that it rolled out of the factory with. That is what makes it an old car, to me. (Same thing if I go into a parts store in person, just a lot of head scratching. I'm glad for junk yards and the internet.)
I also like older cars for the ease of diagonostics. I bought my 1967 GTO, with 4 wheel manual drums lol, in 1990. Car has been operational all these years and the best part I never had to take it to a shop for a repair. I was able to work out problems by myself. I am also able ,so far, to get my replacement parts at my local auto parts store. I find it interesting when people ask if I have problems getting parts. I think if someone is interested in learning mechanics an older car and a repair manual would be a cheap way to learn the mechanics of how things work.
i would argue that the early 90's efi cars were some of the more reliable cars to date. anything japanease or european was built to a high standard, didnt rust in my climate and were technical enough to be reliable and efficient but still simple enough that fixes are easy and cheap, not that they break down too often. i still regard my 24 year old car as more reliable then my 10 year old car, both having done the same amount of k's it all depends on personal preference i suppose but i would take 90's efi over a holley anyday
btw ive seen a diy video on how to make white wall tires basically you take an angle grinder and grind off the side of the tire until its white nice and evenly what is your opinion on this technique
I had a '80 mercury zephyr. Nearly identical to the fairmont you have. A very unique thing was, my horn was actually on the blinker switch. Is yours the same? Please share some of the more unique features of the older cars that you know of.
I have a 1987 Mercedes 300sdl turbo, and there are zero, and I mean ZERO electronics in it. Everything is analog and mechanically driven. The only piece of electronics in it is the tiny LCD display for the exterior temperature. Drives like a dream, way nicer than a vast majority of cars today.
I've always had a thing for older vehicles- far more personality than what we see today. But I'm wondering about parts availability for older vehicles. I had a 1991 Integra for over 10 years. It got totaled recently. It was such a joy to drive, with impeccable styling and extremely cheap upkeep costs (a lot of the basic routine maintenance can easily be done, and barely anything goes wrong in the vehicle in the first place). I won't be driving until 2018 however, but after that, I really want to drive another Integra. The only thing holding me back is the availability of parts. Your thoughts?
I get you. I had an '81 Buick Century and I love the heater during winter and it rides like I'm on my couch - could be good because the front seat is a bench and 3 seat belts or is it bad because my shocks are gone, hehehe. The worst was that I know I am driving a 'Tank' plus when it gets TOO COLD, the brakes failed me, sad face.
I had a 1983 datsun 280zx that my dad helped my buy when I was 15 and started driving when I was 16. The car was as old as I was and I still remember it. I don't really like new cars...now a days. They all seem the same with different badges.
I hear ya. there's a lot to be said for "old" cars and the style and general oddness that went into them, but I consider my cars to be "new" and they are 1990. lol
ahh memories driving a carb (either auto or manual choke) in minnesota winters meant you had to know what you were doing. each car had their procedure, 3 pumps then crank 10 seconds- then 2.5 more pumps and slowly push gas pedal while cranking, smell gas hold it to the floor. do anything wrong and you are assured to need jumper cables. going through the car wash then points/dist cap gets wet and you have to spray them with LPS or wd40. really old- our 1933 chevy with mechanical brakes- all levers and cables- works great but plan your stops. of course not much to go wrong, clean the carb and fuel filter, points, cap and rotor, wires and plugs, mechanical fuel pump right on the block- $50 bucks or less and your back on the road most times.
my idea of old is like 10-15 years, but more of what the car did as far as technology and innovation. I had a 2nd gen S-10 pickup, and a 2nd gen Legacy wagon. both base but damn was the legacy just better put together.
IMO, old car is a concept that should really be about car eras. You mentioned '85 and that's a good point in time because "most" vehicles before then, were carbureted, had control arms and springs instead of struts, and body on frame. Many didn't even have sway bars, and had a larger tire height to rim size ratio, and obviously no airbags, no ABS, and even power windows were less common back then except on luxury vehicles. Maybe it had an 8-track or cassette, or maybe it didn't even have that, and RWD on almost everything, not just trucks and sports cars, plush seats (often bench) AND THE CHROME. Then there were quirks some had like the gas cap/fuel filler tube behind a fold down license plate, and swing out little windows in front of the main door windows, and a foot operated hi/low headlight switch.
I love my old, boxy, inefficient, mostly ugly, archaic, TBI'ed Dodge van. The most complicated piece of electronics in it is the coffee machine I keep in the back.
Eric, if you plan on doing something different and keeping the 6 in the Fairmont, go check out Clifford Performance, they specialise in 6 cyl racing stuff. I have a few parts from them and they work great!!!!! Just a suggestion.
From the "Pluggers" cartoon (which I love): You are a plugger if you can remember your first car -- because you are still driving it. Also: You are a plugger if your tool belt is so heavy that you have to wear sunscreen on your butt. My first car was a Plymouth Fury with the 318 and a push button automatic. My first truck was a Ford F 250 utility with the 292 Y block and four speed . I owned it for 18 years and sold it for more than I paid for it, so I had to claim capital gains and depreciation recapture on my tax return that year.
Any car that can be registered as a classic car is old. However, my car is a '92, I was born in '94. The car is older than me, but I still consider it "old" in that sense.
OK, my last comment was before I actually watched the video, now I know you can tell :-) - What I find interesting that from nowaday's perspective, the newer style of designing and building a vehicle seems much more simple: You have pretty much off-the-shelf computer components that you just slab together, dial in via software so that it works right, and that's it - while in the "old days" you had to actually mechanically engineer all the stuff. For example, ESP (electronic stability control) gives cars way more stability around corners and general drive stability, so there isn't much effort being put into chassis, suspension and stuff like that which make the drive mechanically safe, because this effort is too expensive, when you can regulate everything digitally. As a result to that, modern cars with ESP have less of a limit area where the control over the vehicle depends solely on the driver's skills, but instead, they are easy to drive until the end, and if you're over the limit, it's immediately totally out of control to a point where not even the best driver in the world could catch it again. Cars have changed a lot in the last 10-15 years, and the change has only just begun. So nowadays, if I can afford it, I'd also like to drive one car that has completely no electronics in it whatsoever, and one more modern car with more electronics in it (although not to the point of the most modern cars that practically incapacitate the driver).
My First car cost me 300 dollars. It was a 1969 Chevy Malibu with a 230 inline 6 and a one barrel carb. My fastest car was a 1978 Pontiac Grand Prix with a 6.6 liter form a 1979 formula trans am.
i grew up with early 90's cavaliers, corsica, berreta, and 3800 powered cars... i never stopped driving them. i know how to work on them and i know what to do to keep it going down the road, and cheaply.
You can't beat the feeling of driving an old '31 Ford Model A, fenderless hot rod running a 283 with tri-power and a 4 speed. Dead nuts reliable and if something goes wrong, you can fix it on the side of the road. Knock on wood, she's never broke down on me. She has '48 Ford brakes and I'm still running the old wire wheels.
cruyeda i would love to have a go of something like that, the oldest car i driven was a dodge charger R/T (the R/T stands for road/track right?) my god the noise. you cannot beat the noise that comes from a 7.2 v8, damn near rubbed one out there and then haha! but shitty brakes, soggy suspension that makes the doorhandles scrape the tarmac and the steering slop is beyond funny, but, i dont think i have ever felt as cool as that my entire life....and now im stuck with a 1.4 citroen xsara with a big exhaust and cammed lol
In the '70's, my daily driver was a '55 Chevy 210 Belair running a built 327 and 4 speed. In High School, I drove a '56 Chevy wagon running a 394 Olds and Hydro.
I have a 1973 Ford F250 that I bought about a year ago and made it my project (only 18). When I bought it that truck had been sitting for years in a field, since I've rebuilt the carburetor, did work on the transmission, and worked on the timing, replaced the fuel lines and pump. Its been a great experience for me and I personally love going out and working on the timing and carburetor to make it run seemingly perfect. Next project is motor mounts.
Congrats and good luck with the rest of your project.
braverfreebird This makes you an official car guy! Now, make sure to pass all of this knowledge down to your kids, when you become a father......they will love you for it, and it'll make you a proud dad!
I love old cars. I remember my Dad and I driving a 1963 Plymouth Valiant from Seattle to Phoenix with no problems. This was in the 1980s and the car had over 100,000 miles on it. In my opinion if you kept an old car up they were pretty reliable. My Dad had a 1950 ford that he drove 167,000 miles with the original engine not rebuilt. When he sold it the front end was kind of worn out but it still ran well. I was young at the time but I never remember it breaking down. Of course my Dad maintained it well. To me old cars have a personality that new cars dont have. Also without the electronic nannies you actually had to know how to drive.
Speaking of generational, I had a '74 Malibu, 250 6 cyl. I stopped into Pepboys in Batavia, OH, I asked the young man (he was about 18) for a set of points. His eyes got wide, cocked his head like a dog that heard a noise for the first time, and said,"What's points?"
I laughed until I realized that must have been my 2 sign that I'm getting old. :(
Sometimes I get nostalgic for old vehicles, and then I remember how often they broke down. There was a reasonably busy mechanic every mile, to adjust points, tune carburetors, and deal with no start issues. Even the gas wasn't as clean. Most of us learned about cars because we had to....
Being 16 years old, and "old" car to me is 89 or older, I love driving my 65 galaxie project. I totally understood your philosophy behind that vid
+Nicks Customs Nice project man. I myself have a 66 Galaxie project and love driving it and working on it. So much more simple than cars even from the 80s or 90s.
have you ever noticed that those old cars only have troubles when you decided not to throw those tool in on the trip
I really liked to listen to you about this topic in this and your previous "Driving Old Cars" video. I can really relate this to myself as I'm always been in old cars, more specific old VW. Last year, when I was 17 now 19, I got myself a 1983 VW Passat wagon, beaten, without any paper workand not working, spent whole summer working on it, getting it running and registered. I have put a lot of work in, but it still have big problems to be fixed, but it runs. I often get a critic about my car, because it's old and beaten, but I still love it, because it's old and with it's own soul and temperament.
Driving a old car or being into old cars is basically a life style.
Thanks for your work, keep it up!
I'm only 31 years old, and I had a moment the other week looking at cars, seeing a 91 and thinking it isnt that old, then I remembered that 1991 was 25 years ago
i love driving my 1985 buick! but wish i could own a old carbureted and steel chassis car!
When I was an auto tech yet I used the blue point brake line bender and I loved doing brake lines. Did all of the brake and fuel lines on a chevy pickup restoration, took me 2 days but when I stood back at the end and looked at it I was really proud of how it looked and the customer couldn't believe how it turned out. On topic, I'm only 23 now but now working as a diesel tech for an oil rig company and everyone just comes down hard on me for driving a 92 Toyota Hilux, such an OLD vehicle. I love the thing and I've turned every bolt front to back. I just can't drop the cash on something brand new because it's "the thing to do out here" the old vehicles look better, and are better to drive. There's something about having to know just the right way to start it, or how to compensate for the less than perfect handling. I feel when you have to give someone a tutorial on how to drive your car, you know you are doing it right.
My first car was a 66 mustang 289! It was back in 89. We had a love hate relationship. I spent a lot of weekends crawling around that car. It not only taught me how to turn wrenches it also kept me out of anymore trouble than I was already in. Those were the days!
i love old cars, the feels, smells, and sounds will never be surpassed. i have the only old chevy and carbed vehicle in the family, ironically it was my first car/truck. its an 86 chevy c10, and i love it, well i love all makes, etc, but honestly, as it goes, nothing beats a classic.
GREAT TOPIC!!! we had a old chevy half ton on our farm that was absolutely destroyed.I loved everything about it.The sounds,the smells the feel while driving it.I think thats why people get the inclination to restore old cars.THEY HAVE SOULS.
I'm 16 and my car is a 97 F-150 and people talk about it being old, I have a friend that talks about his 05 sport trac being old, I never appreciated how new my 97 is until I started restoring my 67 F-100, a truck that didn't even have power steering as an option and I just love them both. My 97 is turning 20 this year (it was made in 96) and it to an extent has the same spirit that my 67 has. But my 97 seems brand new when I take the 67 for a drive, having to use the 3 speed manual column shifter, rolling the windows down myself, having to use the choke to coax it to life, using two hands to park, and all that other jazz. But I just love taking that old truck out and listening to the sound of that fe352 I rebuilt and feeling the pride that I take in both my trucks from restoring my 67 to maintaining my 97.
A car from 2005 is relatively modern. Im in my mid 20s now so in 2005 i was in my early teens, nad that does not feel like a long time ago.
ENJOY YOUR VIDEOS,I"M 57 YEARS OLD,1ST CAR,63 IMPALA-283,3SPD MANUAL,RAN GREAT,HANDLED TERRIBLE(WHO KNEW!),COULD ALWAYS MAKE IT RUN,WORKED ON IT CONSTANTLY,LEARNED ALOT,DRUM BRAKES,SINGLE MASTER CYLINDER,SCARY!IT"S EASY TO ROMANCE THAT STUFF,I"M PROBABLY NOT BRAVE ENOUGH TO DRIVE THAT CAR TODAY.THANKS AGAIN FOR WHAT YOU DO
I did saftey to my 88 grand marquis, which is a huge story in itself but in basic I upgraded to all wheel disc brakes, upgraded to a nice 351w headers carburetored (4bbl manual choke) duel exhaust C4 trans. and I'm 33yo so I took this oldie backward and forward!
Thank you somebody with the same car as me
68 Chevy stepside owner here. Just replaced my old 350 with an L96 2012 Silverado engine though, so not sure it still completely counts as an oldie. Still has the original suspension for now, but that may change before too long.
Thanks for putting these videos up. I have enjoyed them so far, and plan on watching more as time permits. Keep up the good work!
i think it is a decision you have to make, im not sure if it makes it older but it will be easier to find parts for the engine.
Thanks Eric! I hope you put out a lot of videos on this car. I bought a 78 camaro with a 305 which is a project car that I used in automotive school. It's been a great learning experience and I love it, although there is the constant terror of maybe the car not taking you to your destination. Either way, I hope you put out videos on carburetor maintenance and tune ups... the lost art form. I'm learning it as I go along and I feel there aren't very good videos that explain how it works and how to tune it
Also I was an old Rotary engine freak. Never rebuilt one but have done R&Rs. Learned the weird timing and all. Owned an 74 Rx4 and Rx3 and 84' Rx7 GSL-SE. Miss those old cars.
ETCG! i watch your videos with my motor head roomates all the time! You make it look too easy and have way more patience than i..
Exactly the reason why I have (don't worry I drive cars too) a motorcycle from 1978, with an engine design from the 1950s. Real easy to work on, everything is much more 'down to earth'. Heck, even the electrics are only 6 wires or so. But I love it, you don't need fancy tools and everything is serviceable. The only thing that I don't trust is the battery of it, which has been replaced a few months ago. Old stuff is great to learn from.
I am about your age, Eric, and my first car was also of 1972 vintage. Mine was a 2lt Ford Cortina Mk3 GXL. I loved driving that old car, and loved working on her. So much room spare room in the engine bay made it easy to get at everything. I could swap the gearbox out in just a couple of hours. Would take me a couple of days on my present car. Though there is one thing i do not miss about the older cars, going out to her on a cold winters morning wondering if she was going to be kind to me and actually start! I remember with my old Cortina you would get just one shot at it on mornings like that, mess it up with too much choke or too much pedal pressing, then the chances were the battery would give out before she started. A problem i have not had for years with more modern cars (touch wood).
wisdom is important with older cars. i bought a 56 dodge and started driving it to oregon from nor cal, and it started running really bad, and it was getting dark, so knowing a few things know what the possable problem could be.
Turns out the points were wearing out and causing the timing to be off. i took sand paper, and smoothed them over, and set them with a matchbook cover and it worked perfectly and i finnished the drive. one thing ve not heard you mention is the feeling of accomplishment working on cars and getting them to work.
My daily driver is an 87 Caprice 4bbl 305. It has 300,00+ miles. Cosmetically it's terrible but mechanically it's sound. I have had newer cars but this car would have to burn down before I got rid of it. As a professional mechanic, so many of the failures I see on modern cars makes me even less inclined to have a modern car.
My favourite car I've ever owned was my 1975 Triumph Spitfire... Had it five years and loved every moment. Had a 1984 Ford Capri for many years as well...
At the moment I've 1999 Suzuki (Santana) Vitara, 1988 VW T25 auto running LPG and poverty spec MK 3 Golf Convertible.
The Vitara is new, but apart from the injection system and ignition system, it is old technology. No central locking, no electric windows, no airbags, ABS, etc ... After going through most of the systems, cambelt, fluids etc... It is running so much better. I drove it 600 miles over 2 days which for the UK is a long distance. It was slow, but so much fun to drive that I did not get bored.
I bought it on impulse a few months ago and it is a project vehicle, so the work is part of the bonding process. Yes, I do carry fluids and a socket set. It might be a little excessive but experience has taught me to carry tools.
Sadly those are the last of the fairly simple cars, the next generation are disposable white goods. When they get to banger status their complexity will mean that instead of being fixed they will get scraped as it is more cost effective to simply buy another cheap car.
Eric, keep up the Videos, really great to watch and learn from. Thank you.
That's an interesting foresight. I like the term 'poverty spec', is it ok if I use it lol?
Of course, my pleasure Sammy. If you are interested, I'm launching a new blog soon called Classicaraddict www.classicaraddict.com/ . It is pass word protected as I've still some details to sort out...
Eric I have always driven older vehicles... My first car was a 63 Olds Dynamic 88 and to this day the neeist car I own is a 82 Dodge Van.
My son recently turned 30 and he purchased a 62 Chevrolet Biscayne ... He is loving it (even though I despise that he BAGGED it) for him to be following in my footsteps and that of my fathers (whose daily driver is a 65 Ford Falcon Van) is wonderful.
My other son is into tuner cars and he helps us keep my wifes 94 Honda Civic running perfect. Great Kid but you can't have everything...(his daily is a early 80's suped up Honda)
Many Blessings , SMR
lol. you mentioned seat belts- they were a $12.00 option on my dads 62 galaxie. instead of getting them, he chose a padded dash- think it was about the same price.
Safety first! ;)
My mom still has our 1976 Chevy Silverado 4x4 longbox regular cab 350 Fleetside. it's 38 this year. Still wakes up and runs but not highway safe but it still lives when she needs it.
My first car I bought was a '51 Willys CJ3A Jeep. Open the hood, 1 wire to the coil, 1 vacuum line to the windshield wiper; real simple. You could climb into the hood there was so much room ;).
The classic cars were built like tanks. The classic styling makes them really stand out.
Through the '70s cars were easy to work on. The '80s, cars got messy. I bet you remember some of the last carbureted Hondas. They had so may vacuum lines, solenoids and junk for emissions and mileage you could not even see the carb under the mess. I hated cars at that time, it was hard to fix and once you touched them, hoses popped off or plastic parts cracked. Machine assembled parts meant things are no longer rebuildable.
With FI, things got simpler and the ECU started telling you what was wrong. They are much simpler mechanically and more reliable.
Newer cars all seem to have the 1/4" rule: If there was 1/4 more inch of clearance around a part, you could get to it without removing 5 other things. Things have gotten difficult; who wants to pull an intake manifold to change plugs.
My daily driver is a '94 Lexus ES300. I bought it thru Copart for $700 knowing it would need some work. It needed a flexible crossover pipe and crank seal. It serves me like a new one.
I am 17, And I think that around 91 is what I refer to as old cars. I drive an old car, a 86 Toyota pickup that started off as a $400 pile on craigslist. It has a 22r with a Carb, and a 5 speed manual transmission.
I also find you build a relationship with a car when it is more mechanical. You feel a sense of pride that you never have when you just take it to the dealer.
Totally agree with your viewpoints on old cars. No fancy diagnostic tools needed there, everything was pretty easy to figure out. And driving them is an experience unto itself as well. As an aside, my dad had an '80 Mercury Zephyr (the Fairmont's brother)...same 200 straight six. Before he bought it, someone had drove it with a plugged catalytic converter, which fried the rings on one of the cylinders. It actually ran ok, but that one plug would oil up pretty bad....then it would suddenly ignite and *BAM!*, big backfire out the exhaust. I took a girl on a date in that car...the first time it backfired she turned to me and said "What was that?". I just said "Oh, nothing....."
i miss those days, my first car was a 71 charger with a 383. i still think in cubs and have a hard time wrapping my head around litters. the fastest car i owned was 71 4 door dart with with a 440, duel 4 barrel carbs, a high riser cross ram intake and so much more. that thing was a great sleeper, no one seemed to suspect it. but man o man they where hart breakers. now i work on my bike to scratch that itch.
Thanks for the clarification. Maybe you could do a video about your opinions on newer "old cars" (80s and 90s) in comparison to newer models.
Hi eric
I love a lot watching you. I know what do you refer when says a honda 1992 is not an old car, is something generational as you said. I'm a person who feel in the same way you feel about modern cars have been broke the link of romance about driving. I have now a 1993 toyota corolla wagon. Thats an old car for our generation(im 30years old) but the big difference for me is that the country from were i came, in this case Cuba, i start learning how car works on a Jeep Willy 1948 with the famous Go-Devil engine straitgh 4 flat head, later i take care of one russian car(lada 1972, is a cheap copy from a Fiat of the 70s) with carburator and everything very basic. Now im here in US and i took it this "old car" from the 90s to learn about injectors and sensors. Hopefully this car is very basic. As you mention before you can feel everything from the speed shift to the aceleration. Please keep posting videos. You are doing a great work teaching us "modern teens" how to deal with "older Cars"
Thanks
Crisss
Despite my 2006 Mercedes Benz C280 being 8 years old I feel it's a newer car. I would consider cars from the 80s, 90s and 2000s to be "older" but definitely not old. Cars before the 80s are starting to show their age and I would consider them old but if they run well and were well maintained I wouldn't mind driving one.
I think determining what's old isn't just generational; it's also a mindset. In 2012 I had a conversation with someone my age (19 at the time) about my car, which was a '99. She said "that's so old!" and I told her I didn't consider 13 years to be old. I asked her what she thought constituted an old car and she thought for a minute... and said "2008." I didn't even know what to say. To me a 6 year old car might as well be brand new! I would consider "old" to be '80s and below.
I had considered upgrading recently and was looking at 2007 4x4's and just kept thinking, that's way too new for me to buy.
I miss this theme song at the start of the videos.. classic Eric the Car Guy!
The good ole days when breaker points or a ballast resister would leave you stranded. The voltage regulator was a big square thing that never seemed to work right, and some were adjustable. In today's era, what is a carburetor?
A guy's car would only start while cranking. He replaced the ballast, dist, carb and was desperate for help. We found a loose wire on the coil. The guy was 'as happy as a puppy dog with two peters' LOL
That is an excellent point, Eric. I suppose someone who is in their early 20s today would see that '92 Civic as being an old car. (I grew up in the '70s and early '80s, like you, and thus I don't see anything newer than about 1985 or so as being old...)
I think the term "old school" fits better than just plain "old" for cars like what you're talking about -- carburetor, points, recirculating-ball power-steering, 4-wheel drum brakes, bias-ply tires, etc. Stuff that could be fixed with a few hand-tools and a couple of hours of fiddling -- rather than needing electronic scanners to report trouble-codes that you then have to look up and use to help diagnose the problem. Anything that doesn't have the electronics necessary to produce trouble-codes when things go wrong is definitely old school.
I love older cars. I drove 1971 Rover 2000 twin carb a while back and it was an utter blast. No pas (didn't need it as the skinny tyres made it light enough. By comparison to the Fairmont, it was a 2 litre (122ci) made about 90bhp
The oldest I have owned was a 66 Mustang, some other oldies included a 71 Olds cutlass, 71 Ford F100, 77 Ford Granada, 79 Dodge Powerwagon. I also had a 1980 Ford Fairmont.
I thought my first car - a 2000 Ford Taurus was pretty freaking old. Not antique or collectible - just old. I loved that thing.
Just you, Tim. I'll never forget our night together, buddy. Oh and hey, remember, size doesn't matter. We talked about it - I love you no matter what.
+spuddapotato2494 LOL! Best response to a hater ever!
+ETCG1 agreed!
boys will be... boys?
I wouldnt label a car from 2000 very modern but not that old either. Its somewhere in btewen, a bit on the more modern side.
My first car was a 1977 chevy nova in 2003. It was highly temperamental. I needed to modulate the throttle just right for it to not stall out when taking off.
They don't make em like they used to is also a bad thing. You were talking about cars going out the door that were more hand made and therefore were slightly inconsistent. I love that. That's what gives a car a personality.
That's why old Hot Rods and Muscle cars and things of that nature are said to be alive and have a soul. I think that men refer to their cars as "she" and give them girls' names because old cars are exactly like a woman.
When you're starting up that Fairmont, you have to hold your tongue just right while the choke is doing it's job, or the thing won't start. Old cars are like that. Just like a woman. With a woman, you gotta press the right button while holding your tongue a certain way (get your head outta the gutter!) or you can't start her engine!
"They don't make cars like they used to" is a bad thing in more ways than good. Cars today have no soul, no personality, no heart, and no power. I'm all for the safety stuff, but do you really need your car to have it's own 4GLTE? For Christ's sake, GM is asking people what Apps do you want in your car?
A car today is just a big technological monstrosity that people climb into and barf around. We don't drive our cars anymore, our cars drive us. People have lost the art of driving. How many people can take a tight turn on a daily drive, and break the rear-end loose? How many people know the proper way to power shift? Shit, look at the sheer numbers of people who are too mentally challenged to drive a stick!
I weep for today's cars. I wish I was old enough to have lived in the days of Carburetors. I wish that I was around when you could go down to the Chevy dealer, spend less than $5,000 and take home a 70 Chevelle SS454 LS6 450HP backed by the Muncie "Rock Crusher" and the Moser 12 bolt with 33 spline axles and 4.11:1 True Posi! That's the undisputed KING of the muscle cars!
What do you get in a brand new car today? A 1.8L or less 4 banger with a hair-dryer on it and a 5 or 6 speed automatic FWD that has ten times more computers onboard than the first Space Shuttle. And what kinda car is it? Sure, you get a gazillion MPG, but even with a Turbo, that little shit-can won't even get out of it's own way. Fuck that. Give me a Sloburetor. Hell, give me dual quads on a high rise dual plane intake. Give me a violent Cam grind and 11.5:1 Compression. If I can't have a basic factory Points Ignition, then I want an MSD system which is better anyways.
There is more to life, than fuel economy.
There is no replacement, for displacement.
the cool thing about older cars is that you can fix them on the side of the road most of the time. if my parents 2013 van broke down on the side of the road i wouldn't want to touch it for fear i would void the warranty even if i new what the problem was.
I drive a 1995 Mercury Sable, which just a little younger than I am. It doesn't feel like an old car to me since it has fuel injection, power steering and two airbags and an ECU. I get what he's saying, cause older cars, you can really get attached to. The Sable has never had a problem, never failed to start ... and I guess that also means that I'm not that attached to it either. Sure, it shows it's signs of age, fading headlights and noisy power steering, as well as suspension that is reminiscent of an old Cadillac, but nothing that could make you become attached as you learn to cope and deal with it.
I own a 93 F-150 thats 2 years older than me and it feels very old compared to my 1998 chevy blazer, but I love the feeling.
I drive a campervan based on a 1998 Ford Transit. 2.5 litre direct injection diesel engine. Mechanical diesel pump. One of the last to have a purely mechanical injection system.
No power steering, and at about 2,100 kilograms (uh ... 4,630 lbs) it's hard to park, and being high-sided it's a pig when it's windy. But it's still great fun :D ... and in theory I could fix it all!
The only sophisticated electronics in it (apart from the DAB stereo) is the PATS immobiliser system.
The previous car was a 2 litre Mercedes automatic. So it's a bit different :D
PS No power steering on something that heavy gives you impressively strong arms after a year of driving it!
I thought my old 94 Chevy 1500 was carburated, until I looked closer and thought it looked a little odd to be a carburator. I know now that it's throttle body injection. I'm not sure if this is unique to trucks at that time, or if it was just a crude form of the fuel injection we have today. Either way, this truck is old to me, and a blast to drive, and just different than my 2012 civic and 2010 Elantra. I have learned a lot from your videos, and really enjoy them.
+mygreenzebra Yea, that was the stop gap before things went multiport. It worked pretty well. If you want to try something fun. Hook a timing light up and watch the spray pattern while the engine is running. It's pretty cool. Thanks for your comments.
I found it quite amusing that there was a Scotty Kilmer advert before this video! :-D
i have an all original 1973 ford ranchero gt. the guy who owned it before me bought it new in 73 and drove it every summer until he died a few years ago. his daughter sold it to me and she did not clean it. i got to find all the cool little stuff he left behind and what he had in the car just in case. i plan to do a lot of work to get it looking good. i just got it on the road, im only 18. i got it running great and i love driving it
Perhaps I'll have to count myself as an odd duck in your 'generational' idea :) Old in my perspective is anything older than '85, yet that's 12 years older than myself :)
Also, you mentioned a video about rebuilding carburetors, I'll put it simply, I would love that! I have a 65 Cadillac that I'm working on and 'learning on' and I know enough to know the carburetor is not working properly.
My first car was built in 97, and I drove it until it wore out in 2011 (transmission problem, donated the car to someone who repaired it.) To me a car is old if the radio will accept a cassette tape.
Part of that is because I am part of a generation that grew up during a technological boom though.
I drive an 87 Monte Carlo. I've changed about everything on it. Changed the engine twice. Tranny once. I switched it from a TH 200-4R to a TH 350 and had to buy a crossmember from an older G-Body, then had to have my driveshaft shortened 3 inches. I did all the body work and painted it myself. The newest engine I installed was a 1995 5.7 4 bolt main out of a Suburban 2500 4x4. It was rebuilt by me in my garage after machine work. Watched a youtube video on head porting and gasket matching then ported, polished, and port matched my heads with a die grinder and shaved them with a glass table and sandpaper. I had to cc the ports a hundred times it seems like to get it right. (i'll be using a machine shop for that from now on lol) Also put in new springs locks retainers and valve seals and lapped the valves. I installed new gaskets and seals throughout the engine, new .30-over kb flat-top pistons and moly rings and king bearings, installed cam bearings myself, plastigaged the bottom end, filed my own rings, put in a summit 1103 (street) cam, anti pump-up lifters, and a used intake. Small block chevys are pretty easy to do extensive repairs to compared to newer cars. I learned how to do all that from youtube. It took me about 2 weeks, but I'd never did anything that extensive before and had no help. It has a Holley 4 barrel with manual choke and a one-wire HEI distributor, so there's like 4 wires that run the whole engine. The carburetor was left full of metal shavings from the factory so I got a good deal on it, it was almost new and the guy didn't know what in the world was happening. He would set the floats perfect one day then get in his truck the next morning and it would be shooting gas out the vents. This guy can do complex EFI engine swaps and tune them, but I'm about the only one left out of our bunch who knew where to look with the fuel overflow problem on the Holley. Needle valves. Us guys that mess around with these old cars are a dying breed Eric. I've been driving the Monte over two years on this rebuild, and I'm in no way easy on this car. It's my work car and I beat the shit out of it. I live to blow the doors off of nicer, newer cars lol! She always starts (with no choke) no matter if it's 10 below outside. Of course, the body has to be rotting plumb off of it lol.
slim sammy aye man don't know if your still active or not but I'm trying to see if a Monte Carlo around those years is a reliable everyday car because I will be driving one soon when I figure out what to and how to fix it and I just want to know can it be a everyday car and. for it to be an everyday car what can I do or add for it to be one
Them old Montes can be just as good as any other car out there for an every day driver. I actually traded that car off for a 2004 CRF450R dirt bike last june. Some things with old cars you have to remember, their brakes lock up easy when the roads are wet. When you drive them in the winter time, warming the car up isn't a simple turn-the-key-and-run-back-in-the-house affair, you will have to sit there and hold the gas to keep it running forever before it idles on it's own (unless the choke's functioning properly). A rear-wheel drive car also doesn't do worth a shit in the snow, no matter what it'll never go as good as a front-wheel drive. Also, especially with a carb'ed V8, it's going to drink the gas compared to a newer, fuel injected car. Having the correct size carb, and having it jetted correctly for your particular engine will help a lot here. You also want to note the rear axle ratio. A lot of those Montes came with 2.73 and 3.08 rear gears stock. They're good for fuel mileage but not so much for acceleration. The Monte SS's usually had 3.73 posi's stock, but not all of them. If you have an overdrive transmission, you can still get decent gas mileage with the 3.73 gears, but my car got great gas mileage despite having ported heads and street cam with non-overdrive transmission because it had the 2.73 gears in the rear end. I know that's a lot, but there's one other huge concern with these cars. Rust. You have to check these cars out real good because the worst rust you've ever seen on a car could be hiding up under the ass end of a GM G-body. The rearmost part of the frame and the trunk floor and rear body mounts is where you need to really inspect that car. Chunks of the car falling off and hitting the road with every big bump you hit isn't exactly what anyone would call reliable, lol. So, I could've just said in the beginning you kinda need to be a mechanic to drive one of those oldies lol.
slim sammy thanks man I just needed to know because I own one now and I'm 15 I have help from family but I needed to know what it needed ASAP thanks I know it needs a lot of work but this has been my dream car since I was a kid it's a 85 Monte Carlo ss T-top but I'm willing to put in the work and the money thanks
When you get the car to where it needs to be you will be proud as hell of yourself, man. You can brag to your buddies how you built your own shit when mom and dad probably just went out and bought theirs! When you get that big car going out the road fast as hell and start hitting the turns...well, it's just beautiful. LOL
slim sammy thanks I hope you don't mind but I will be commenting on here time to time to see what I can do to improve it since your someone who has repaired a Monte Carlo for it to run
Old cars are much better built than newer cars. I'm restoring a 1967 chrysler newport coupe and love to drive it. Newer cars for me it's transportation and have less or no fun driving then. Keep up the great work and keep the vids coming. Greetings from the Netherlands.
Hi Eric! I have a 74 Challenger I've been rebuilding for years. It's got a 360 engine and a 727 trans. I was a real rust bucket. It literally had rat and mice nests in the headliner. So all that had to go. The floor pan is gone. Engine is getting rebuilt probably this summer along with trans. I'm stuck on one thing brakes. I don't know how to bleed the entire brake system as I replaced the entire brake system. I don't want to roll down the drive way and into the neighbors yard...lol. To bad I don't have you in Pittsburgh! That would be awesome! Take care and thanks for the videos!
Honestly bleeding the whole system isn't that difficult, a lot of it can be done with gravity. Just make sure you have a lot of brake fluid; if the pedals hard you won't be in anyone's yard ;)
cant wait to see it done!
i have a 71 buick riviera
You should do a video on replacing points, and tell people they come with a special gap setting tool right before you rip the lid off the box. :)
i love older vehicles my current vehicle is a 93 ford explorer ive been fixing up converting everything i can to manual on her deleted ac looking for manual window assemblys. but i love older vehicles. beautiful car btw
I'm 19, born in 1997. An old car to me is pre-90s, but I totally understand what you're saying about the generational aspect of cars. My first car, which my parents bought me, was a 2002 Grand Am. I absolutely hated it. I bought myself a 1987 Ford F150, which is now sold, and a 1986 Mustang GT hatchback. Hoping to add something a bit newer and more reliable considering how often Mustangs break lol
When something breakes in new car you will be sad how expensive is to fix it. You can fix old cars by yourself using ETCG channel :)
I decided on an 01 Honda Civic as a daily, so hopefully it won't be too hard or expensive to fix. There's tons of parts out there for it. And I can have some fun in the Mustang and if it breaks I'll still have a driver!
Here in my country just a few people can afford a new car or even a car that is 5 years old. Most of the people are driving old 1979-1995 cars.
I have a 1987 Nissan Sentra B12 with E16 engine carburated and love it!
Eric, you're the best dude.....
I have had a few cars, and being one of the few in my circle working as a professional mechanic i work on my cars that range from 85-01 and others.
But i prefer the older cars, especially diesels because of their simplicity.
Could make a video about how to tell if a car is worth parting out?
All I know is I've had to learn how to work on my car myself (well, I'm learning) because every time it rolls into a shop the guys end up scratching their heads over some part or other that it rolled out of the factory with.
That is what makes it an old car, to me.
(Same thing if I go into a parts store in person, just a lot of head scratching. I'm glad for junk yards and the internet.)
I also like older cars for the ease of diagonostics. I bought my 1967 GTO, with 4 wheel manual drums lol, in 1990. Car has been operational all these years and the best part I never had to take it to a shop for a repair. I was able to work out problems by myself. I am also able ,so far, to get my replacement parts at my local auto parts store. I find it interesting when people ask if I have problems getting parts. I think if someone is interested in learning mechanics an older car and a repair manual would be a cheap way to learn the mechanics of how things work.
i would argue that the early 90's efi cars were some of the more reliable cars to date. anything japanease or european was built to a high standard, didnt rust in my climate and were technical enough to be reliable and efficient but still simple enough that fixes are easy and cheap, not that they break down too often. i still regard my 24 year old car as more reliable then my 10 year old car, both having done the same amount of k's it all depends on personal preference i suppose but i would take 90's efi over a holley anyday
the choke sucked on that car when it was new,,,l drive a 59 vw around town now, but theres a big tool box with me,,
btw ive seen a diy video on how to make white wall tires basically you take an angle grinder and grind off the side of the tire until its white nice and evenly what is your opinion on this technique
I had a '80 mercury zephyr. Nearly identical to the fairmont you have.
A very unique thing was, my horn was actually on the blinker switch. Is yours the same? Please share some of the more unique features of the older cars that you know of.
I have a 1987 Mercedes 300sdl turbo, and there are zero, and I mean ZERO electronics in it. Everything is analog and mechanically driven. The only piece of electronics in it is the tiny LCD display for the exterior temperature. Drives like a dream, way nicer than a vast majority of cars today.
Id love to learn more about real old cars like pre 90s. the problem is how much you have to deal with rust.
I've always had a thing for older vehicles- far more personality than what we see today. But I'm wondering about parts availability for older vehicles.
I had a 1991 Integra for over 10 years. It got totaled recently. It was such a joy to drive, with impeccable styling and extremely cheap upkeep costs (a lot of the basic routine maintenance can easily be done, and barely anything goes wrong in the vehicle in the first place).
I won't be driving until 2018 however, but after that, I really want to drive another Integra. The only thing holding me back is the availability of parts. Your thoughts?
I loved my old 79 GMC sierra, and still love my old 84 toyota supra......going up in value big time!
Also there were more DIY'ers "in that time" because it was all mechanical and well, relatively easy
I get you. I had an '81 Buick Century and I love the heater during winter and it rides like I'm on my couch - could be good because the front seat is a bench and 3 seat belts or is it bad because my shocks are gone, hehehe. The worst was that I know I am driving a 'Tank' plus when it gets TOO COLD, the brakes failed me, sad face.
I’m 15 and I have a 75 El Camino that I’m hoping to daily drive soon.
I had a 1983 datsun 280zx that my dad helped my buy when I was 15 and started driving when I was 16. The car was as old as I was and I still remember it. I don't really like new cars...now a days. They all seem the same with different badges.
do old cars have seat belts? The 62 Ramber and 63 Travellal that I enjoyed as a kid did not have seat belts.
I hear ya. there's a lot to be said for "old" cars and the style and general oddness that went into them, but I consider my cars to be "new" and they are 1990. lol
ahh memories
driving a carb (either auto or manual choke) in minnesota winters meant you had to know what you were doing. each car had their procedure, 3 pumps then crank 10 seconds- then 2.5 more pumps and slowly push gas pedal while cranking, smell gas hold it to the floor. do anything wrong and you are assured to need jumper cables.
going through the car wash then points/dist cap gets wet and you have to spray them with LPS or wd40.
really old- our 1933 chevy with mechanical brakes- all levers and cables- works great but plan your stops.
of course not much to go wrong, clean the carb and fuel filter, points, cap and rotor, wires and plugs, mechanical fuel pump right on the block- $50 bucks or less and your back on the road most times.
You know a car is old when something goes wrong and your first thought is "I sure hope I brought my pliers." lol ;-)
OscarWhiskeyFoxtrot I think you mean vice grips
my idea of old is like 10-15 years, but more of what the car did as far as technology and innovation. I had a 2nd gen S-10 pickup, and a 2nd gen Legacy wagon. both base but damn was the legacy just better put together.
Good luck on the track.
IMO, old car is a concept that should really be about car eras. You mentioned '85 and that's a good point in time because "most" vehicles before then, were carbureted, had control arms and springs instead of struts, and body on frame. Many didn't even have sway bars, and had a larger tire height to rim size ratio, and obviously no airbags, no ABS, and even power windows were less common back then except on luxury vehicles.
Maybe it had an 8-track or cassette, or maybe it didn't even have that, and RWD on almost everything, not just trucks and sports cars, plush seats (often bench) AND THE CHROME. Then there were quirks some had like the gas cap/fuel filler tube behind a fold down license plate, and swing out little windows in front of the main door windows, and a foot operated hi/low headlight switch.
I love my old, boxy, inefficient, mostly ugly, archaic, TBI'ed Dodge van. The most complicated piece of electronics in it is the coffee machine I keep in the back.
Eric, if you plan on doing something different and keeping the 6 in the Fairmont, go check out Clifford Performance, they specialise in 6 cyl racing stuff. I have a few parts from them and they work great!!!!!
Just a suggestion.
i still get people that say thier 2006 vehicles are old and dont know how much longer its going to last and i look at them like what?
From the "Pluggers" cartoon (which I love):
You are a plugger if you can remember your first car -- because you are still driving it.
Also:
You are a plugger if your tool belt is so heavy that you have to wear sunscreen on your butt.
My first car was a Plymouth Fury with the 318 and a push button automatic.
My first truck was a Ford F 250 utility with the 292 Y block and four speed . I owned it for 18 years and sold it for more than I paid for it, so I had to claim capital gains and depreciation recapture on my tax return that year.
I don't know if you have made a video about rotary engines or not but you should
Any car that can be registered as a classic car is old. However, my car is a '92, I was born in '94. The car is older than me, but I still consider it "old" in that sense.
OK, my last comment was before I actually watched the video, now I know you can tell :-) - What I find interesting that from nowaday's perspective, the newer style of designing and building a vehicle seems much more simple: You have pretty much off-the-shelf computer components that you just slab together, dial in via software so that it works right, and that's it - while in the "old days" you had to actually mechanically engineer all the stuff. For example, ESP (electronic stability control) gives cars way more stability around corners and general drive stability, so there isn't much effort being put into chassis, suspension and stuff like that which make the drive mechanically safe, because this effort is too expensive, when you can regulate everything digitally. As a result to that, modern cars with ESP have less of a limit area where the control over the vehicle depends solely on the driver's skills, but instead, they are easy to drive until the end, and if you're over the limit, it's immediately totally out of control to a point where not even the best driver in the world could catch it again. Cars have changed a lot in the last 10-15 years, and the change has only just begun. So nowadays, if I can afford it, I'd also like to drive one car that has completely no electronics in it whatsoever, and one more modern car with more electronics in it (although not to the point of the most modern cars that practically incapacitate the driver).
My First car cost me 300 dollars. It was a 1969 Chevy Malibu with a 230 inline 6 and a one barrel carb. My fastest car was a 1978 Pontiac Grand Prix with a 6.6 liter form a 1979 formula trans am.
i grew up with early 90's cavaliers, corsica, berreta, and 3800 powered cars... i never stopped driving them. i know how to work on them and i know what to do to keep it going down the road, and cheaply.
You can't beat the feeling of driving an old '31 Ford Model A, fenderless hot rod running a 283 with tri-power and a 4 speed. Dead nuts reliable and if something goes wrong, you can fix it on the side of the road. Knock on wood, she's never broke down on me. She has '48 Ford brakes and I'm still running the old wire wheels.
cruyeda i would love to have a go of something like that, the oldest car i driven was a dodge charger R/T (the R/T stands for road/track right?) my god the noise. you cannot beat the noise that comes from a 7.2 v8, damn near rubbed one out there and then haha! but shitty brakes, soggy suspension that makes the doorhandles scrape the tarmac and the steering slop is beyond funny, but, i dont think i have ever felt as cool as that my entire life....and now im stuck with a 1.4 citroen xsara with a big exhaust and cammed lol
In the '70's, my daily driver was a '55 Chevy 210 Belair running a built 327 and 4 speed. In High School, I drove a '56 Chevy wagon running a 394 Olds and Hydro.
Why not on the dyno? no bad shifts, bad starts, changing temp, dry/wet track....
my friend has a 71' Porsche 911 ES
he recently had to rebuild the engine because it caught fire when he tried to start it
I support the idea of a carb rebuild video. Get a rebuild kit, and show us how it's done!